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Unemployment rate drops to 9.1 percent

In all, 154,000 private sector jobs were created in July, up from 80,000 in June. |
Reuters
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“With the debt ceiling, you had actual members of Congress saying that maybe a default would be OK, if it did not last very long,” he said. “That was deeply unsettling to the whole world, not just the United States.”

The intense and bitter fight over the debt ceiling concluded on Tuesday, when lawmakers and the president ended months of uncertainty by finalizing a compromise to increase the government’s borrowing authority in return for cutting future budget deficits by more than $2 trillion.

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Because of the ferocity of the debt talks, economists and market analysts doubted that political leaders could overcome their differences to put together a jobs package. The president has suggested extending the payroll tax reduction, establishing an infrastructure bank and enacting patent reform to encourage hiring, actions that require the blessing of House Republicans.

“Fiscal policy is completely tapped out right now,” said Prestige Economics’ Schenker, adding that after the July numbers political leaders are likely to “continue to point fingers.”

Republican leaders quickly used the jobs figures to criticize the president’s economic policies.

“Today’s unemployment report is more proof that all of the Washington spending, taxing and regulating is devastating our economy,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement issued to reporters seven minutes after the numbers were released.

“While the American people are asking ‘where are the jobs?’ the Democrats running Washington are determined to punish small businesses with higher taxes and more red tape — including hundreds of new regulations last month alone — and to keep their spending binge going at all costs. Instead of more jobs, they’re creating more fear, more uncertainty, and more debt,” he added.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said on CNBC that while “the number was a slight improvement over last month, it certainly wasn’t what we hoped to be.”

Without any consensus between the GOP and Democrats, there is increased pressure for the Federal Reserve to stimulate growth by pushing more cash into the economy. The U.S. central bank recently ended a policy that added $600 billion into the economy.

Another influx of cash from the Fed would likely weaken the dollar, making American products more affordable overseas and boosting exports that totaled $1.83 trillion last year.

“We believe that the only path left for the U.S. economy is for U.S. dollar weakness to continue through the rest of the year and beyond,” said Douglas Borthwick, a managing director at Faros Trading. “There is little momentum coming from the housing and employment legs of the U.S. economy; however, export-led growth continues to move forward.”

Republican presidential candidates also weighed in, with former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty saying the “dismal jobs report is a far cry from the hope and change that President Obama promised on the campaign trail.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said that while the July data reflects a “slight improvement … it is still evidence that the president’s failed economic policies are digging us deeper into a hole.”

“Mr. President,” she added, “the only way to dig us out of this hole your administration has gotten us into is to stop digging.”

On CNBC, Moody’s economist Mark Zandi said the moderate jobs growth was somewhat reassuring given the uncertainties caused last month by the debt ceiling.

“The fact that we made it through the month with this kind of number is a very good sign,” he said.

Do you even know how many jobs per month would need to be created, and for how many years it would take SUSTAINED job growth at that level WITHOUT FALTERING - just to reach unemployment neutral?

Not even close to the 500,000 jobs per month in the private sector that it would take to quickly wipe out widespread unemployment and help reduce the dangerously out of control debt - or at least slow it down.

So ...Things are looking up for the US Economy . This must be a Bad day for Republicans , I wonder what they are going to do and say today . The last time unemployment ticked up , they were all over the blogs jumping up and down..

Every day is a bad day for the nation and the world under this pack of incompetent Pigressives. This type of "growth" ain't gonna cut it in the real world. The US economy expanded at a rate of less than one percent the first six months of this year. Just what exactly is Obama's plan besides running his mouth - to get a rapid booming economy, prosperity and wealth generated? Oh that's right, the community organizer doesn't have a plan and he's in over his head.

"The political problem for President Obama? Even if 100,000 jobs are created, it will be less than half the number of jobs — 255,000, — that need to be created every month for the unemployment rate to dip below 8 percent by Election Day 2012.

And there’s very little historical evidence of a president — of either party — winning a second term with unemployment at those heights.

Summers added that there is “at least” a one- in-three chance that the economy could fall back into recession “if nothing new is done to raise demand and spur growth.”

..........The rate dropped from 9.2% because too many Americans have given up HOPE and left the job market........